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2011 Wine in Context Awards

If you want to know wine, you have to spend some time not just drinking, but touring, visiting and tasting. Sadly, some of my trips involve nothing more than a mad dash from one château to the next. The Bordeaux primeurs are the classic example; I squeeze a lot of tasting into several hectic days, generating a lot of useful notes on perhaps several hundred new wines (or should I say barrel samples), informing me as to their qualities, and hopefully informing others as well, but ultimately these experiences do little to enhance my own understanding of the region as a whole.

To really to get to grips with a wine region you have to take your time a little bit. Drive around the commune of interest, find a vantage point, take some photographs. Visit one or two select properties, taste their wines, not just the embryonic barrel samples but older vintages too. Some might be a little parsimonious with their time or their wine, but by and large this is rare, and most - not the more self-obsessed first growths or those that view themselves in a similar light, but most - are happy not only to show you the vineyards but to also open any number of bottles. My most recent trip to Bordeaux, in October 2011, was just this kind of trip; a mix of touring, tasting and photography. As a result, I feel I know Bordeaux - and especially Sauternes where I spent a whole day - much better than I did immediately before the trip.

So wine visits are important. With that in mind, let's get stuck in with the awards, which all have - in respect of my new-found awareness of the veracity of Hollywood luvvies as described in my introduction - a cinematic theme this year. (x/12/11)

2011 - Visit of the Year

This year I have selected just one visit on which to wax lyrical, and it does indeed relate to my most recent Bordeaux sojourn.

A special award for use of an umbrella in wine writing.

I've made my fair share of visits this year, but some of the most memorable were without doubt during my most recent trip to Bordeaux. Each visit had its strength; some afforded valuable time with a knowledgeable person, sometimes the proprietor, sometimes the technical director (I must confess I prefer the latter - I will leave the hobnobbing and long lunches to the other folk). Sometimes the visit brought a deeper understanding of the vineyards, or the philosophies that run in the mind of the proprietor and director. One visit brought me a much deeper understanding of how kosher wine is made. Others brought grand tasting opportunities, with multi-vintage verticals running from the most recent barrel samples right back to the 2000. But there was one visit that seemed to combine all of these features (not the kosher wine though - that was somewhere else), and the château in question was Brane-Cantenac.

I arrived dead on time at 3pm, just as the skies overhead began to darken thanks to a blanket of thick, grey cloud, and the first few drops of rain marked the windscreen. It had been threatening to do this all day, ever since my first appointment at Château Talbot at 9am, so it was no surprise. I hurried over to the door where Christophe Capdeville, Brane-Cantenac's technical director was waiting, together with Maria Martinez-Ojeda. Maria's role here was translate for me (I have a little French, but it is never long before I become unstuck) but - having tasted with her later in the day - she also clearly has a very deep knowledge and understanding of the wines. As we headed out into the vineyards Maria picked up some umbrellas and they were much appreciated, as the rain gradually became heavier. Unfortunately for me I am not skilled in managing three objects - notebook, pen and umbrella - with only two hands (one on the left and one on the right in case you're unsure -  although both seemed to be acting like left feet this day). If I recall correctly Maria offered to hold my umbrella for me, but that would have made me feel like a complete diva, so I soldiered on unassisted. The result was a close shave for Christophe as my poorly controlled umbrella wandered about in the wind, coming close to removing his right eye at one point.

We spent perhaps two hours discussing the vineyards and then looking around the winemaking facilities, including a chance to clamber over the new Bucher Vaslin optical sorting machine. I'm an info-geek, a sponge for technical and philosophical details, so to me every minute spent in this fashion was invaluable. Then we moved inside for a ten-vintage vertical, starting with the 2000 vintage and working our way forward in time, finishing - as far as finished blends are concerned - with a barrel sample of the 2010. The icing on the cake was a chance to taste a varietal sample of Carmenère from the 2011 vintage; this comes from an experimental planting of this variety, the intention being to determine how useful it may be to Brane-Cantenac in the future, as climate change advances. There was no more fascinating tasting during this brief trip (although some were just as extensive) and there was certainly no visit so informative. Most importantly of all perhaps there was no other visit which demonstrated so comprehensively the high quality of wines, opening my eyes to the huge amount of work that the team at Brane-Cantenac have undertaken to in order to improve quality and to put the very best possible wine in the bottle. To taste the fruits of their labours was a delight; this was, without a doubt, my favourite visit of 2011.

My favourite wine: Brane-Cantenac 2009

A special award for those who have excelled in the field of motoring hilarity.

Although not directly related to the tasting, I cannot help but mention this mirth-filled moment that came directly after I left Brane-Cantenac. Moments of humour are always welcome during a tasting or visit, and this grey and drizzly day in October came good in this respect. Having left Brane-Cantenac quite late, after 6pm, the light was fading. I pulled my hire car to one side among the vines of neighbouring Cantenac-Brown to reflect on the tasting, and to see in which direction I should now head. I was looking in my rear view mirror at the red-brick château behind me when I witnessed the most hilarious (nobody was injured - so this description is permitted I hope) accident I have ever seen. Two locals travelling in two small hatchback cars, the first towing the second using what looked like nothing more than a knotted bed sheet, took the roundabout in front of Cantenac-Brown too fast, and with the crump of folding metal they promptly jack-knifed their vehicles. Their attempts to extricate themselves were worthy of the best Laurel and Hardy tale; the 'rope' connecting the two was so short it was pulled taut, so that as they attempted to manoeuvre each car in turn the other was pulled sideways, and eventually the hapless duo threw in the towel (or should that be sheet?), unknotted their makeshift 'rope', repositioned their vehicles and then remade the union between the two. The whole affair took 20 minutes to unfold, of which I spent about 10 minutes rolling with laughter in the dirt of the Cantenac-Brown vines as the two characters fussed and failed. Whatever your names, be they Stan, Olly, the Chuckle brothers ("To me, to you" - UK readers with young children will get this) or otherwise, thank you for a very entertaining interlude at the end of a hectic day of tasting!

Also worthy of special mention is my visit to Raymond-Lafon; an hour or two with Jean-Pierre Meslier was a delight, his botrytised fruit delicious eaten straight from the vine (it is of course even better once fermented) and the view from among his vines - Yquem on one side, and the roofs, spires, weathervanes and castellations of Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Rayne-Vigneau, Sigalas-Rabaud and Rabaud-Promis peeking above the crest of the vine-covered slope on the other - is a magnificent one. His wines are pretty good too! Earlier on in the year, the tasting graciously offered at La Conseillante during the Bordeaux 2009 primeurs, featuring the 1945 and 1990, was also a high point worthy of some mention. Although sadly, in case you weren't sure, I made up the time-travelling introduction.

• Continue on to my 2011 Wine in Context Awards: Tasting of the Year